Ask the Readers: Favorite Frugal Christmas Ideas?

I made a trip to Costco yesterday to buy index cards. (Believe it or not, index cards are the building blocks of this blog.) The store didn’t have any, but it did have four long aisles stocked with Christmas supplies: lights, laughing Santas, and artificial trees. “Are people thinking about the holidays already?”, I wondered. Turns out they are. In the Get Rich Slowly discussion forums, Samantha is asking for frugal Christmas ideas:

We sat down to develop a Christmas budget for the first time ever last night. And I have to say, I was a bit overwhelmed by how much we plan to spend. Currently $425. But at least this year we are PLANNING for it and we have the cash to spend!

Does anyone have any tips for inexpensive ideas for Christmas gifts, traditions, etc. and just general ways to save money around the holidays, i.e. holiday entertaining, hostess gifts for every party we’re invited to, etc.?

Samantha’s question made me realize the holidays aren’t actually that far away. Besides, this year, in this economy, it makes sense to begin planning early, especially if you want to try some do-it-yourself projects.

Consider giving experiences. In the forums, Brad suggested giving music lessons, bike tune-ups, wine advice, or other gifts of time, knowledge, and experience. If you have friends with children, give them a night (or afternoon) of free babysitting so that they can have a special getaway without the cost of a sitter.

Also in the forums, Pulmano1 noted that if you’re holding your family gathering after Christmas (as we are this year), you can find heavily discounted gift ideas in post-holiday sales.

Do a group project, like assembling a family history. Amberlynn’s family writes a chapter of their family history each year, covering topics like favorite holidays, the house they grew up in, and how people met their spouses. The gift costs nothing but time, and carries more value than commercial gifts.

Remember that children don’t receive lasting value from toys and candy. What kids actually want are a relaxed and loving time with family, realistic expectations about gifts, an evenly paced holiday season, and reliable family traditions.

Give homemade gifts. In the past, we’ve given jams and jellies and pickled vegetables. A good friend once gave us a hand-assembled collection of gourmet salts, complete with written description of each. Rather than a gift card, I’d much rather receive a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

It’s not just gifts you can make by hand — it’s also fun to create do-it-yourself cards and decorations. When I was a penniless college student, I made my cards by hand every year. These were more meaningful to me, as a giver, and I think they were treasured by the recipients, too. It’s easy to make your own cards. (Trent at The Simple Dollar has some tips for doing so.)

We are Jewish. In recent years, as our children got older, I decided that Chanukah was not the “Jewish Christmas” as it has become in America and we did not have to give our children a gift(or a “real” gift) every night. They got gifts from others so some nights the gift from an aunt or grandmother was the gift and some nights, they got nothing. I also began to follow the joke that Jewish kids get socks and pajamas while their non-Jewish friends get game systems(don’t worry- my kids had those too). So one night, everyone got new socks and one night, PJs. Now as young adults- they get a check(and socks and sleep pants) and my husband and I exchange one gift(that we have discussed). We light our menorah every night and usually have a Chanukah buffet dinner/party for friends. We also volunteer our time on Christmas eve and Christmas day through our synagogue for meals to the homeless on the street and at a church- as part of a year round feeding program with which we work.

LOL! I have always given and still do pj’s and socks for Christmas. They seem to me part of the presents that we always got from my Grandparents. I give them to my kids and grand kids as well. My family and I get 6 gifts each. Some are home made gifts and some are store bought. My daughter who is married with two children does the same as I have done with with her children. Some gifts are home made and some are store bought. It is a nice balance.

Since I sew and have my own shop on etsy… This year I am making my 2 nieces and 7 nephews gifts, saving us TONS of $! We also NO LONGER buy for the adults in the families and am hoping to PITCH IN for a gift for the inlaws! My kids have already been told there will be NO TOYS from us this year, and instead I had cartoony pictures done of them from a seller on etsy! SOMETHING they will cherish for a long time (MY aunt gave me one when I was younger and I still have it!)
Last year we spent the money on LED lights and the Year before we bought our tree at 75% off after christmas!
In the SHORT of it, we try to teach our children that one small and VERY THOUGHFUL gift is SOOOOO much better than a lot of crappy, NO THOUGHT gifts! NOW if someone could just tell my husbands sister that~
THANKS for such a great blog! I enjoy reading it daily!

we are going to hang out like we always do. we don’t celebrate holidays or anniversaries anyways, so we don’t have the stress. we’ll go to church probably, we may go out with friends, or go over to someone’s house, but that is pretty much routine stuff. at the end of the day you have to decide whether you are celebrating a religious holiday or a commercial one.

Yeah, the Christmas holidays are coming (wow, time flies!). I’ve never really thought about a spending budget for the event, but this year something changed. First of all, my my mom just had another kid. I’m 23 years older than my sister who just turned 1 this past summer. She’s starting to walk, so I’m thinking that she will really start to enjoy Christmas. That is coupled with the fact that my sister is in the Army. Because of events not controlled by herself, she has sent my niece off to live with my mother. That said, my mom is currently watching two really young children (a 3 year old and a 1 year old). I have been inspired to make this Christmas special for the bunch. One because my baby sister can enjoy it, two because my niece is without both of her parents this holiday, and three because my mom is dealing with both of them so well.
I naturally created a budget to ensure that I can accomplish this.

For my cash hungry nephews & niece I make sure to do something creative to get the money. This year is going to be a family trivia game with questions that make them talk to other family members. It is much more interesting than a $20 bill.

I tend to go a bit crazy trying to find the “perfect” gift for everyone, but not this year. We don’t have much extra money this year, so all I gave my mom for her birthday was a jar of chow-chow (a type of relish with cabbage, peppers, etc), and she was so thrilled! Then and there I realized that people don’t need expensive gifts so much as thoughtful ones. This Christmas will be homemade!

My husband and I both come from large families, and this year we are finishing our master’s degrees and moving across the country at Christmas time. In the past, our siblings have done a gift exchange by drawing, but this year we opted out. We don’t buy gifts for our nieces and nephews, period. This year our budget is $100, broken down as follows: $20 each for each other ($40), $25 for a homemade quilt I am making for my grandparents that we will spend Christmas day with, $15 for my aunt and uncle that will also be with my grandparents for Christmas day, $20 for cards and miscellaneous.

When I was 15 my mother was called back to active duty in the Marine Corps, and so my family had two incomes for Christmas that year. The result sickened me. We just kept opening more and more presents. Ever since that year I have disliked being with my parents for Christmas. It is overwhelmingly materialistic, even though the Christmas story might have been read the night before.

For my children, when they come, my plan is: outfit for school, outfit for church, pajamas, a book, something small, and something big. I hope to keep it to that. Christmas means more when there is less.

Last year I made functional pottery serving bowls & utensil holders. I placed them in a basket with colorful, but inexpensive kitchen cloths, a nice set of teak utensils (purchased a set at Walmart for the cost of one at Pampered Chef), & a grocery gift card. All the adults in my family are great cooks. This year I am making gift baskets with an inexpensive, but well-performing immersion blender, a set of recipes I type up for smoothies, blended soups, etc. & a set of soup bowls or smoothie glasses. Another year I did crock pots & spices. Another possibility is to purchase all those really nice grilling utensils in September when they’re half price & give them with a nice cutting board & a gift card to their favorite butcher. These are excellent gifts for couples. If they have kids, I go with something like a set of cool cookie cutters, a couple batches of cookie mix in jars, a rolling pin &/or cookie sheet, sprinkles & small aprons or oversized t-shirts they can decorate with craft fabric paint. Each basket costs less than $50.00 & most less than $25.00. All my gifts include something homemade, whether it’s handmade placemats, clothing, needlework, stained glass artwork, pottery, or creations from my kitchen.

I’m going to be a college student next year, and I’m already thinking about money for then.
My moms side of the family is… big. We do a secret santa type gift giving. Each person purchases for one other, with a limit of 25$.
This year, I have an aunt who runs a day care out of her home. They only use cloth napkins. I knit and sew, and I’m planning on knitting a few cloths, as well as sewing several. I could make at least a hundred with 25$ worth of cloth and yarn. But, instead, I will offer to help out with the day care one day a week until the end of this school year.
My parents do all the buying for their nieces and nephews. Most of the ids are VERY INTO one or 2 things (crafts, hockey, hunting etc) and for the crafty crowd, I use the 40% off coupon at Michael’s to get them a kit of some sort.

Our family members, especially on my husband’s side, are very generous when it comes to gifts and for years we’ve felt we had to spend the same amount and it was becoming *very* costly.
For the past couple of years we’ve decided to budget $25 per person in our families, and more for our children. While it doesn’t seem like much, when you’re buying for 15-20 people, its by no means a budget breaker.
We’ve become more creative in our gift giving, making some of our gifts. We’ve also started our planning earlier, in September, so we can take advantage of items on sale before the Chirstmas season truly starts.

I grew up with two brothers and when we were children, we only received one present each from our parents at Christmas — and we very much looked forward to that present! I agree with Katherine that at Christmas, less means more.

Now that I’ve grown up, I’ve got two god children and a niece to think about. When buying for kids, I try to avoid buying toys. I opt instead for books and educational material that can be bought for reasonable prices. Kids love books. I think a lot of people underestimate that as they’re shilling out $100 for the newest Elmo doll.

Kids also love to colour. This year, I bought my niece a book of blank pages, pencil crayons that I bought on sale during back-to-school specials, and I’m creating a colouring book for her.

Another option might be to go to a craft store and buy supplies the child might need to create something. The gift itself might be “unfinished” but at least the child gets the pleasure of designing something themselves. This could be especially helpful if they need some sort of furniture in their room, like a little stool or something.

I don’t create a budget at Christmas. I’m anal enough to shop throughout the year; when I see something on sale that I think someone will like, I buy it and put it aside until the holidays. That way I’m not spending a huge chunk of money at one time. It’s not too early to start thinking now!

I’m not as good with homemade gifts as I’d like, but we try to get creative with the wrapping. We wrap all our Christmas gifts in brown craft/postal paper and tie with twine. Then we head outside with our pruners and cut small branches from our holly tree (with beautiful red berries), pine trees, and magnolia. We tie the different leaves together with more twine (sometimes we tie in a couple of cinnamon sticks as well) and tie them to the center of the gift. Sometimes I’ve also taken a gold paint pen and written the name of the recipient on one of the holly leaves. We end up with a beautifully wrapped gift that people seem to love. It’s also extremely inexpensive.

This year I (in part) have convinced my boyfriend’s siblings to draw names. In total, there are 6 of us, which means a lot of gifts in addition to his parents, and my large family. Since my brother has joined the NAVY, my father and I have both realized how much time means to us and that no material goods can replace that. Due to this, we try to keep the holidays simple, and enjoy time with the family.

I have realized that over the years, the holiday have been a bit of overkill, and the overall meaning has become lost. I much rather give my time, than stress over the perfect gift, or spending equally among family members.

I hope this holiday season will be the beginning of a simpler, more meaningful Christmas!

We have 4 nieces, 1 nephew, and 1 daughter. All of which are under 6 so Christmas is still full of magic and Santa for them. We decided to to spend $20 on each kid (that needs to include any taxes or shipping), $100 worth of things for our daughter (that comes out to about 5 to 8 presents I guess), and $50 to spend each on each other.

We told our brothers, sisters, and parents not to expect anything from us, and to please not to get us anything in return. Then not only do we end up saving about $140 in ‘adult’ gifts, but they save an average of $40 not spending on us too – and that is kind of a gift itself!

And really, when was the last time you got anything from your brother in law or whoever, that you really could have just done without, just kinda like, is totally not you, or both of you didn’t just think you were following the routine and you just picked up whatever at the last minute?

For our close friends, we decided we are just going to have a big pot luck dinner and have a nice night together.

We wanted to save some money this year – but we really don’t want to go down the make your own gifts route. Personally I think that usually ends up more expensive and time consuming! Unless you REALLY make something someone else wants, then you are kind of just missing the whole point and just trying to fulfill obligations.

Instead of exchanging gifts with family this year, we will be creating care packages for our men and women who are currently overseas serving our country.

We don’t like the materialism of Christmas, it’s become more of a commercial holiday than anything else.

In an effort to teach our children to think of others, they will be drawing pictures and writing letters for our soldiers this holiday season, instead of sending letters full of “I wants” to Santa.

Instead of shopping for gifts that people don’t want or don’t need, they will help us shop for things such as gum, magazines and soap. Items that are needed and very much appreciated by our military men and women.

Is this a frugal Christmas idea? Maybe, it depends on how much we send. Even if we end up spending more this year than we normally would, we know it will be more appreciated and actually be used; unlike the gifts we’d normally exchange.

My mom kept boxes in the attic where she would store presents that she bought all year round. Christmas presents were in the box only she was allowed to go into. The others where hostess present, baby presents, etc. All year long she would find the great deals on cool stuff and uses those purchases to keep her boxes supplied. That way we always had a gift if we needed it and didn’t have to go out and spend a lot more just to get sometime not as nice. It was a great system if you have the space for it. If not it still works on a smaller scale (I use an under-the-bed storage container in my apt.)

Instead of making cards, I make envelopes out of pretty magazine ads and then pair them with nice stationary paper that you can get cheaply by the pound from any stationary or craft store. It is a great way to recycle magazines and the resulting stationary sets have been a real hit with my friends. If the gift calls for a little extra just pair a set with an address book or a nice pen.

We are having a Buy Nothing Christmas, quite against our will. Three months of job hunting after a lay off has depleted our finances to the breaking point. There are a few traditions we will not surrender, however, the most important of which is the Birthday Party we hold on Christmas Eve (complete with cake, candles and song) to remember the roots of the holiday we celebrate.

We do photos each year for Chirstmas for the family. It’s not like my family really needs anything.

I took up photography for the express purpose of learning how to take better photos of my kids. I’m getting better at it and my family appreciates the photos. (And I don’t get nagged to take my kids to walmart for photos anymore. I hated dealing with the photo department at our walmart.) Considering what I spent on the camera, backdrop (suede curtains), and work lights – I’ve made my money back several times over by doing the photos myself. It’s taken a few years to feel that I’m “good” at it, but the process has been a lot of fun. Hope the idea helps.

The most wonderful gift I’ve ever given (it’s still talked about years later) cost me almost nothing. I spent a few months contacting friends and family members and asked them to send me memories and old pictures of my grandfather. Then I wrote one memory (or printed one picture)on each of 365 business card sized pieces of cardstock. I folded each in half and secured it with a bit of tape, then placed them all in a big jar I decorated. Every morning for the next year, my grandfather would take out a paper, open it, and see what other people cherished in him. He loved it.

As much as I’d like to take credit for the idea, I found it on flylady.net. They have many clutterless (and often quite frugal) holiday ideas!

One of the best traditions we ever got rid of for Christmas was the giving of gifts amongst my mother’s side of the family. Once everyone had been reduced to asking for things like black socks and trash cans and subscriptions, we decided that we didn’t need to exchange gifts to get together, share a meal, and have good conversation, so we all gave it up and we’re ever so grateful. Saves us a ton of needless expenditures and we still enjoy the company.

With my family we celebrate a “homemade” Christmas. Everyone has to make gifts and can only spend $10 per family on supplies. It’s so much more fun that receiving a gift you end up giving to Goodwill in a year or two. We give each other jams & jellies. Last year I made pancake baskets for all the families, and partially baked cinnamon rolls for them to pull out of the freezer and bake on Christmas morning. I also made a dad a quilt out of old jeans and flannel sheets that had all of his boyscout patches sewn on it. Needless to say it is his favorite gift (and it cost me $0).

We prefer to do this kind of holiday and donate the money we would spend to a charity. No one in our families needs more things, so why not spend time together and donate money to people that don’t have anything. Perhaps pool all the family gift money and buy a goat from Heifer International. Then just enjoy some quality time together.

Mr Chiots and I buy each other a few small gifts (mainly things we need like Burt’s Bees Chapsticks etc) and we spend a lot of time sitting by the Christmas tree drinking hot cider and listening to our collection of Christmas music. Does it really get any better than that???

In my family, we don’t give a lot of gifts. I can probably name every gift I’ve ever gotten from them – which is actually pretty cool since I still use them all (including my Beauty & the Beast comforter – I’m 25).

There are only a few friends I exchange gifts with so when I give a gift, I can go all out. I’ve had the most fun and the best reaction from my “theme” gifts. For instance, my friend was always complaining that he couldn’t get a date so I gave him a “Guide to Love” gift set, where I wrote out funny instructions and pick-up lines and gave him things like movie tickets and small gift certificates to fun date things. I also gave him some random junk to make it fun (and secretly, to get rid of stuff I didn’t know what to do with). But I tied it all together with the love theme(“you can use this children’s book to read children’s stories together?” honestly, i had a lot of random junk in college) He then showed the gift to EVERYBODY and everyone complimented me on it. Of course, you have to have a kinda unique relationship with someone to pull that gift off without sending ambiguous/condescending vibes.

Another good idea was something for every different sense. Examples: Homemade cookies for taste. A mix cd for hearing. A candle for smell. A photo for sight. A stuffed animal for touch. The moral is, it can definitely be memorable and fun (for everyone) without costing a lot.

I agree with Rachel. As the youngest brother with two older sisters, you can imagine it was an unpopular suggestion by me to forego gift giving among the adults.

My sisters enjoy shopping and gift giving. But as we get older, and my sisters are having children, it just seems like it is inevitable that we will eventually outgrow gift given between siblings. I just wanted to do it sooner than later.

Since we live distances apart, just getting together and spending time together is what I look forward to.

In terms of being frugal- experiences make the most memorable gifts. Donate time, offer to cook a meal for someone, a picnic in the park, a free concert, free chores. These are the things I did as a broke college student. . .

During the holiday season our family goes out and volunteers together– usually at a local soup kitchen or food bank. We also try to bring relevant donations when we go, or toys for the kids who come through.

We do get each other presents, and are really lucky enough to have everything we need– especially since me, my siblings, and cousins (“the kids”) are all in our 20s and are pretty self-sufficient.

To eliminate giving random objects that will just sit around the house and collect dust, we’ll give each other (or really, 3rd world families) animals from Heifer International, or small things that we really do need– scarves, etc. Last year I asked for candles and told them to go to the outlet where they’re $2 instead of $20. They got me regular candles, plus this football-sized seashell monstrosity that gives me a laugh every time I see it. (It is getting used, though!)

For those who are looking for electronics, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is a great time to get steep discounts. $5-$15 can get you a huge variety of things; just make sure it’s stuff you actually need. It’s actually become a family tradition for us, too– nothing says sibling bonding like standing in line and hanging out in the freezing cold at 4 am. The parents sleep in for this one!

I don’t want to do big Christmases with my son ever. When he’s old enough, I’m planning on incorporating a tradition of volunteering, of giving time and resources to the truely needy, instead of expecting lots of gifts. I also want it to be a time to really enjoy family. I’ll probably do a few practical gifts, things I would have to buy him anyhow like new clothes and what not, and maybe one fun gift, something he really wants, but besides that, I’m not going to do much.
One tradition I’m starting, and this is more for birthdays, is I’m going to write him a letter every year. I’m not going to actually give them to him. I’m going to save them in a box for him to have on the day that I die. I have this terrible fear, because I am in the military, that I am going to die before he’s old enough to remember me, and the letters will be something he’ll have to know who I was and how much I love him. Even if I don’t die until I’m very old, it will still be something he will like to have, I think.
Other than that, I tend to bring food or drink to gatherings for the holidays, and that is usually my gift. I think the holidays are about parties and gatherings more than gifts. Also, when we were little we used to draw pictures and make little things for friends and family, I’ll be encouraging my son to do the same, once he’s old enough. He’s just barely going to be a year old this year, so he’s not going to care one way or the other.

We just started a family discussion via email about the holidays. So far, we have heard from my brother-in-law, and we’ve agreed to just get presents for the children. I plan to make cookies for a variety of people, and I just found a blog featuring apple jelly…I think it would make a great gift. It’s the perfect time to make it right now.

Also, over the summer, I bought a few things that were either affordable to me at the time, or were on clearance. For instance, my brother and I have an inside joke about a really peculiar uncle who gets upset when people eat butter…I found “The Great Big Butter Cookbook” for $4 on
Amazon, so it was a must-have frugal gift.

For many years now, we have given really inexpensive gag gifts to immediate family, and it’s always a huge hit. For the last two years, now, I’ve received marzipan pigs from my mother. Tasty AND humorous. A pig catapult one year from my brother. A woven straw pig for my birthday…you get the picture.

It’s exciting to see other people’s tips. After a very stressful Christmas last year, my family decided to start a new tradition. No gifts (except for stockings, with little items contributed from everyone) but we will gather and spend the day cooking a meal together, with a different cuisine every year (i.e. Greek, Italian, etc.). Hopefully it will be fun and help us focus on spending time together, rather than opening gifts.
We also do an annual gingerbread house party in the beginning of December, and that is one of our most important holiday traditions.

My friends and I do not exchange gifts, we meet for a potluck dinner and games night instead.
For family I try and make at least one part of each person’s gift, although some- like my brother tend not to really enjoy this aspect so every year I pick a DVD from his Amazon wishlist.
I probably spend less than $20 per person, but generally a fair amount of time creating gifts.
My partner and I exchange very small gifts instead we both pick a movie to watch and a board game to play and spend the day together.
Because I do not see my family over Christmas I try and connect with them in other ways, my mum and I both do either an Angel Tree gift or a shoebox gift for charity and discuss our purchases for that over skype with video, so we get to spend some time together and do a little for others.

I am in that lovely in-between stage. My siblings are grown up (or practically so) but none of us have any children. This means that I don’t have many people to buy for, but they are all difficult particularly as they live a long way away.

I cut costs by taking advantage of sales and things. My family aren’t going to appreciate homemade gifts and I’m not crafty anyway. We live too far apart for experience gifts to work well without being expensive. I just do my best within whatever budget I have.

Another one that my family used to do was a White Elephant. Instead of buying lots of cheapo gifts for everyone in the family, we decided to do the gift exchange idea, so we all only buy 2 gifts and receive 2 gifts.
It works like this. We each bring two random gifts to the family gathering. All the gifts are set in the center of the room, and we each draw two numbers from a bowl. The person who draws #1 gets to pick any present from the pile and open it. The person who picks #2 then gets to either pick a new present from the pile, or steal the present #1 picked. If #1′s present is stolen, then #1 gets to pick a new present. Then #3 gets to either steal the present from #1 or #2 or pick a new one, if he steals, then the person stolen from can either steal from someone else, or pick a new one. And so on until all the presents are gone. We made a rule that presents can only be stolen 3 times before they retire, and that you can’t steal a gift strait back from a the person who just stole it from you.
This used to be great fun and the whole family looked forward to it each year, but it started getting bad lately. One problem is that half the people in the family buy nicer gifts and the other half buy really cheap gifts, so a lot of people feel like they put a lot of money in to get junk. I think a good solution to this would be to put a spending limit on the gifts, say no more than $15 a gift. Another problem is that you get one or two people in there who are really ruthless about getting all the expensive gifts, and sometimes other people’s feelings get hurt. For example, last year my mom put in a $50 gift certificate for a local seafood restaurant, and my cousin and his wife were trying to get it even though they didn’t like seafood, just so that they would have gotten all the expensive gifts! And of course, they brought a variety of $7 gifts. Psh.

As many others have said, it’s photos for me, as I’m also a photographer. That said, there are a LOT of really nice options beside an 8×10 in a frame. Stretched canvas wraps are really nice and more affordable than most people think. Same goes with photo books.

One thing that I’ve seen a lot at Christmas gatherings that drives me batty is the following.

Very young kid– say, 2 or 3, who’s still new to all this present stuff– opens their first gift. Is really excited with it, and starts playing with it immediately. Grown-ups actually DIVERT him or her AWAY from the toy and BACK to opening gifts, because the gift-opening is happening now.

Um, yeah. Way to teach a kid “no! no! Don’t appreciate or enjoy what you already have! Instead focus on what MORE you can get!”

Inevitably, after the kid opens all their presents, they are a bit overwhelmed, unable to enjoy any of them thoroughly, and ends up bored at the end of the day.

Better to let the kid play with the new toy until they get tired of that particular game, and only then give them the next gift– encouraging them to enjoy that one for a while as well. So what if it takes all day?

For hostess gifts, I start baking in late November and freeze the cookies. Seven or eight different cookies makes a nice mix to box up and take along to many parties. They also make great gifts for teachers and daycare workers.

For my children we are tyring to get the family away from stuff (it can be hard sometimes) by asking for more experience related gifts, an outing to the museum, planning to do something together and last year the best gift was a week at summer camp.

Both my kids are involved in art classes and bring home lots of projects, so some those will be given as gifts for Christmas this year.

Not so much a frugal tip, but in the spirit of giving, at work we have done a secret santa but rather than purchasing a gift for the person, you buy a toy that you think they would have liked as a child, everyone else has to guess who you have. Afterward, all the toys are donated to charity.

I like giving presents because I enjoy the process of thinking about what people might like and then finding it, and I like receiving presents because it gives other people the same opportunity.

Presents don’t have to be expensive. We have had Christmases with big budgets and other Christmases where the family budget was $10 or $15 for each of our two children and $5 apiece for my wife and myself. I still treasure used cassette tapes my kids gave me in the 1980′s because they went to the trouble to find a store that had Dr John and Professor Longhair, even though they didn’t spend more than $2 each.

These days, I like getting books — new or used — and home-made pickles. I have a big classical music collection. If I were unemployed, I would put together a classical favorites compilation on a CD or cheap thumb drive, and I would be thrilled if someone did the like for me.

We try always to have single friends and sometimes people we don’t even know very well to share the table with us, and in recent good years we have made it a rule to give away as much to charity as we give in presents to each other.

“Very young kid– say, 2 or 3, who’s still new to all this present stuff– opens their first gift. Is really excited with it, and starts playing with it immediately. Grown-ups actually DIVERT him or her AWAY from the toy and BACK to opening gifts, because the gift-opening is happening now.”

This is actually an interesting observation and I have a suggestion for this one.

Last year our daughter was only about 9 months old and she didn’t really ‘get’ the whole wrapping thing and plus she couldn’t unwrap them if she tried.

So on Christmas eve we put out all her new toys – unwrapped, new batteries in, and taken out of the box and ready to play with – under the tree with just a few bows here and there, but just ready for her to play with at her leisure. We actually saved a lot on paper and stuff that just gets tossed out.

I think this works great for the overnight “santa” presents – but of course would never work for the ones that sit under the tree for 3 weeks!

Also, ever since my sister and I were about 5 – my mom would prop us up on the couch with all our loot and take a picture. It is so fun to look back now and see exactly what we got each year from Santa and how excited we were. Plus it let me realize that my parents only got us about 5, to max of 10, presents each (the majority of them were small things) but I don’t remember feeling like I didn’t get much. Usually one really cool thing, and the rest just fun silly stuff.

I spend $50 each Christmas on gifts. That’s it. Why? Because it’s the law
My family does a version of Secret Santa that brings us all together.
On Thanksgiving, we bring out The Poster Board of Gift Requests.
On the poster board is a grid, a square with each family member’s name on it.
Within that square, the person writes what they would like for Christmas, obeying the agreed upon $50 limit. Another rule: No Gift Cards, as they are the easy way out.
After everyone has filled out their square, in between bites of dressing and turkey, we put the names in a hat and draw.
You get the name of another family member, you walk over to the board, make a mental note of what they would like, and hey presto – you go and buy it for them.
It can be one item, it can be 100 items, as long as the total doesn’t go over $50.
It’s an inexpensive Christmas, you get what you want from your Secret Santa, they get what they want from you, and all is well.
We’ve done this for about 13 years now, and it works great.
Hope this suggestion helps someone have an inexpensive yet satisfied Christmas.

I think the most important thing is to have the discussion among the family you exchange gifts with and come to some sort of agreement.

Over the last few years, various members of my immediate family have spent much time on creating scrapbooks of important family history, but it turned out that it made my sister-in-law feel that she had to spend a lot of money (that she doesn’t have) to be “fair.” At a family dinner in September, we talked about expectations for Christmas gifts, and I think we were able to make it clear that the scrapbooks were so exciting to make that the people making them enjoyed them even more than the recipients. My sister and I (at least) were able to say that we don’t really care whether the gift-giving is fair. If my brother happens to find the perfect thing for my sister, he doesn’t need to get something for me just to make things even.

We talked about maybe doing a low-budget Yankee Swap among the adults just for fun: $15 max or something that you want out of your junk closet.

My husband and I took a cross-country vacation last year, which was a boon for me as a landscape photographer. For Christmas, I plan to process some of my best photos from our trip and frame them for my parents. They built a new house this year, and they have a lot of wall space to fill.

My family loves doing stockings, but they get expensive. Last year my mother suggested that we all purchase our own stocking gifts, then exchange our stuff, with the recipient being challenged to wrap the items in a way so that the purchaser won’t recognize them. My mother created sculptures out of packages of toothpaste and plastic forks; I wrapped an entire stocking with scraps of fabric from my stash. It was fun; it was cheaper because some things simply came from the pantry rather than the store; and we all ended up with things we’ll actually use.

Now I know that all of you out there are like, “Hey! These are a great way to save money!” Yeah, you might save money but….

1)

Half the people on the list are people you would have never bought for in the first place. Now you are buying a gift for a person you never would have had to shop for in the first place, and you will probably end up buying at least something small for the people on the list that you WANTED to get something for

2)
Half of the people will half-ass it, and at least two people don’t deliver. Unless you are doing this with a group of less than 4 people, THIS WILL HAPPEN. You know Murphy’s Law? Well, this is Secret Santa Law. I swear to you, if you are the type of person who spends hours contemplating the perfect gift for someone (or even spend hours creating it) I guarantee you will get a dusty, stinky, bath salts set picked up on the way to the party from Walgreens.

3)
And then, perhaps the worst, will be the guy who ruins it for everyone. The spending limit has been strictly set at $20 – he buys a $300 autographed poster for his pick. Yes, they LOVE it. Yes, it is the “PERFECT” gift. Yes, everyone else feels like a shmuck. AND the expensive giver always has a obvious look of disappointment when he opens his bath salts from the last minute guy.

I have been screwed on these suckers since I was 7. Some of the worst were: a candy cane as a main gift, a scented lilac candle (I am allergic to lilacs and lived in a candle free dorm at the time), and worst of all a jar of peanut butter. (I still can’t figure that one out…)

If you feel you must limit – do the White Elephant. We do this at one large ‘bar crowd’ type party. Most of us spend months to pick out the funniest, weirdest thing to add to the pool – you usually at least end up with something funny, some times something awesome, and it’s okay when you get the stupid scented candle to say, “Aw man! I got screwed!”

When my brother and I were little, my uncles were both working on their Masters degrees in education and had little money. One Christmas, my uncle Neil gave us each a coupon for ‘A Day with Uncle Neil’. He took my brother hiking and they came home with a jar full of soil and rocks and moss. He took me to Stanley Park (Vancouver, BC) where we rode the train and fed the birds. We got helium balloons and when we arrived home, Uncle Neil got out my dad’s fishing rod and attached the balloons to see how high we could let them go. They got stuck in a tree! I know it’s cliche, but I remember that day more than most gifts I’ve ever received.

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